Cryptanalysis of ePassports

[cypherpunk]

An article is up on the eprint archive,
http://eprint.iacr.org/2005/095. "Security and Privacy Issues in
E-passports" by Ari Juels and David Molnar and David Wagner. It
analyzes the new contactless chips which will be in U.S. passports in
a few months.

Among the risks it identifies are that terrorists could eavesdrop on
chip transactions and recover digital photographs of what people look
like - when they are not smiling. The mind boggles at what a creative
terrorist could do with such sensitive information.

CP